HomeFeaturesNHL Offseason Analysis: The New York Rangers

NHL Offseason Analysis: The New York Rangers

The New York Rangers had an abysmal post-season. The Pittsburgh Penguins bounced the Broadway blue shirts out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in just five games. Henrik Lundqvist received little help as the team gave up a collective twenty-one goals during that span. I called King Henry out for his poor performance, but the buck doesn’t stop there. There’s plenty of blame to be passed around the roster.
Flash forward to now, and the Rangers have had an equally disappointing offseason. They’ve done very little in addressing the roster since the season ended on April 23rd. I’m going to assume GM Jeff Gorton has had many sleepless nights since then. He missed out on the big fish free agents like Steven Stamkos, Kyle Okposo and David Backes.
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Derek Brassard, the team leader in goals (27), was just traded to the Ottawa Senators for Mika Zibanejad, a centerman who’s five years younger coming off consecutive 20-goal seasons. Keith Yandle, a defenseman who led NY in assists (42) was traded to the Florida Panthers for late round draft picks.
The Rangers have been busy retaining a few of their own, like forwards Chris Kreider, JT Miller and Kevin Hayes. Thus far through free agency, they’ve added forwards Michael Grabner (28), Nathan Gerbe (29) and defenseman Dylan McIlrath (24). Grabner and Gerbe are both coming off difficult seasons, personally; Gerbe missed much of the year with injuries that limited him to 47 games, meanwhile Grabner was held to 9 goals through 80 games with Toronto. In short, the duo seems like aging, offensively talented wingers that don’t have much left to offer. There’s no doubt these three players were added so that NY could expose them in next year’s supplemental draft for the new NHL franchise in Las Vegas.
Time is running out on the NHL free agent market, but there are still a few unsigned vets available that could potentially help New York. With roughly $3.5 million in cap space available, the Rangers have a lot working against them. Still, Gorton and Co. need to find a way to improve the team, so it’s time to get creative.
The St. Louis Blues would be willing to move defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who would be a nice piece to have on the back-end. With two of the top point producers from last season out the door, it’s imperative NY finds a way to make a deal for a guy like Shattenkirk. The all-star defenseman would be a big help to Lundqvist, and a huge boost on the power-play.
There are still some quality free agents available that can come in and contribute immediately. Forwards Matt Cullen, Radim Vrbata and Brandon Pirri come to mind, and at least one of them could fit into the Rangers’ budget.
I didn’t feel good about NY last playoff season as it was. They went 2-11-5 in the Metropolitan division during the regular season and ran into a buzz saw in Pittsburgh, the eventual Stanley Cup champion. There are a lot of “what ifs” heading into 2016-17, and not enough assurances. What we do know for sure is that the Rangers lost this off-season. It could be a long year.
For more NHL news, follow me on Twitter @wolf3328.


Hero (Top) Feature Image: © Jared Silber / Getty Images (via rangers.nhl.com)

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